And just as at the beginning of the Church, there are seven. Details, from the Catholic Herald: Seven men answered the call to the permanent diaconate and were ordained last Saturday by Arlington Bishop Paul S. Loverde at the Cathedral of St. Thomas More in Arlington. Family, friends and clergy of the diocese joined in welcoming the men to service. The bishop reinstituted the diaconate formation program in 2005. Last January he ordained 16 men after a hiatus of 20... Read more
And “light one candle” for Tony Rossi and Christopher Closeup — a shiny new blog here at Patheos, and great addition to the family. I’ve known Tony for a few years, and can vouch that he will be both a friendly neighbor and an agreeable dinner guest; we’ve dined together a time or two and he always keeps his elbows off the table. Not only that: the Christophers is a great organization — Elizabeth has more on this big move... Read more
Take 10 minutes and watch this extraordinary video, created by a class of Alabama middle school students. It will stay with you long after it’s finished. H/T Aggie Catholics. Read more
Last week, I posted an item about a priest from Des Moines climbing Mt. Kilimanjaro. CNS caught up with him this week, and has more: A pastor from the Des Moines Diocese has experienced a once-in-a-lifetime adventure with the hope that it will bring others to God. Msgr. Frank Bognanno, 72 and pastor of Christ the King Parish in Des Moines since 2000, is among a group of cancer survivors who climbed Mount Kilimanjaro in Africa, a trip organized by... Read more
And just as at the beginning of the Church, there are seven. Details, from the Catholic Herald: Seven men answered the call to the permanent diaconate and were ordained last Saturday by Arlington Bishop Paul S. Loverde at the Cathedral of St. Thomas More in Arlington. Family, friends and clergy of the diocese joined in welcoming the men to service. The bishop reinstituted the diaconate formation program in 2005. Last January he ordained 16 men after a hiatus of 20... Read more
It was a soundbite that attracted some attention: Speaking to media during an impromptu press conference Tuesday, Texas Gov. Rick Perry twice mentioned rival Rick Santorum’s Catholic faith in criticizing his record on fiscal issues. “Rick Santorum is a good man, he is a good father, he’s a good Catholic,” Perry, an evangelical Christian, said. “But he hasn’t always been a good conservative.” The casual but twice-repeated remark — the first time that Perry has publicly pointed to his rival’s... Read more
Catholic San Francisco has been following the pastoral year of seminarian Tony Vallecillo as he moves closer to ordination in 2014. The latest installment in the series looks at the experience he is gaining preaching: The self-described perfectionist spent 10 hours reading, researching, ruminating and rehearsing to deliver the seven-minute “reflection,” the equivalent of the homily reserved for the ordained. The experienced public speaker has followed the same rules – keep it short and focused; maintain eye contact; avoid using... Read more
That’s even more improbable than making the leap from TV producer to deacon. The Milwaukee Catholic Herald has the scoop: A producer, one might say, is not unlike a parish priest organizing a liturgy for a special occasion. Before enrolling at Sacred Heart School of Theology, Hales Corners, Tony Budnick spent more than a decade as a television producer – which he recently defined as “someone responsible for coordination and execution” and ever attentive to detail, someone who must “have... Read more
Some perspective on what is happening in Philadelphia and elsewhere: From Philadelphia to Newark, N.J., New York to Boston, Cleveland to Chicago to Detroit and beyond, the church of the immigrants is going the same route as the old industrial America of our forebears. The huge plants — churches, schools and parish halls — markers of another era, like the hulking steel mills and manufacturing plants of old, can no longer be sustained. There aren’t enough Catholics left in those... Read more
His story is now being told: A Catholic chaplain aboard the sinking Costa Concordia rushed to consume the Eucharist in an attempt to protect it as the cruise liner began to sink on Friday night. Fr Rafaeli Mallena, 70, described his ordeal to Fr Giacomo Martino, director of the Apostolate of the Sea for the Italian bishops’ conference. He said as he realised the ship was in serious peril he had two things at the forefront of his mind: protecting... Read more
The Deacon's Bench
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